The present invention relates to a handle for the transport and manipulation of electric accumulator batteries, preferably for batteries of the type for starting motor cars.
Since batteries have always been objects of great specific weight, there has been a constant endeavor to find the manner of facilitating their transport, storage and manipulation. The objective has become greater at the present time when a great many motor car batteries are sold in department stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets, where the customer collects the battery off-the-shelf and carries it off to mount in his vehicle by himself. The objective is facilitating the handling process by methods which in addition to enhancing the appearance of the battery, ensure safety, both through preventing the escape of the acid of the electrolyte, and by avoiding the risk of short circuit resulting from accidental electrical connection between the two poles or terminals.
Various types of handles are already known for facilitating the transport and manipulation of batteries, of which almost all utilize flexible elements such as plastic straps or cords in order that, while permitting the hand-carrying of the battery, and the mounting of the battery in the vehicle is not obstructed or even impeded. Also known are some rigid handles with different systems of lowering and fastening and swivelling the handle mentioned. But the majority of these must be removed from the battery when it is installed in the vehicle, in order to permit the assembly of the terminals with the pertinent clamps.
The handle of the present invention is rigid, permitting the handling of the battery with complete ease. Nevertheless, the handle presents no difficulty when mounting the battery, due to its special design.
The handle of the present invention has a double ladder configuration comprised of two steps on each side, with two windows or openings of non-round, and particularly oval shape at the lower ends situated in such a manner that it permits their fitting on and rotation about each of the side pivots joined to the upper part of the cover and at the same time permits it to be lowered on to the upper face or cover of the battery. This handle is specially designed in order to permit easy mounting due to the fitting of the windows of the handle on the pivots of the cover and also to permit the batteries to be stacked in the warehouse.
On lowering the handle on to the cover, the top part of the double ladder, which serves as the grip of the handle of the invention, is positioned between the battery connection terminals and precisely at the same height as the top part of the cover, projecting slightly over the top part of the lead terminals, in such a manner that the base is enlarged on which the batteries shall stand when stacked. Therefore, the risk of falling over is diminished, at the same time as the risk is minimized of breaks in or damage to the bottom or base of the batteries when they are stacked on top of each other, since the projecting parts which usually produce damage to the bottom of the batteries are the terminals themselves and these, when employing the design of the handle of the invention, are located at a lower level than the cover and the grip.
The pivots, around which the handle of the invention swivels, are situated on the two sides of the cover. The pivots are shaped like a mushroom, the outer part of which is non-round, and particularly oval in form and thicker than the inside which is circular in order to permit the handle to turn. The outermost and oval-shaped part of the pivots is dimensionally slightly less than the oval in the openings in the handle and the major axis of the oval of the pivots forms an angle of less than 90xc2x0, preferably 65xc2x0 to the horizontal, in such a manner that it only permits the handle to be mounted when the latter is positioned forming that angle to the horizontal.
The fitting of the handle on the pivots of the cover is carried out by means of a simple movement and with virtually minimum force. However, once the handle is engaged, it accepts displacement and rotation with ease and with maximum guarantee of safety because the cover shall be unable to withdraw from its engagement while the handle is maintained upright forming an angle of 90xc2x0 to the horizontal, which is the only position in which it is possible to transport the battery suspended from its handle. The handle can only be detached when it forms the same angle with the horizontal as that of the outermost part of the pivots and this is always much less than 90xc2x0, normally 65xc2x0. Therefore, during the transport of the batteries suspended from their handle, that is when the handle is raised, there is no risk of batteries falling as a result of aforesaid handle escaping from its engagement.
The material employed to fabricate the handles can be of many types. Preferably, for practical and decorative reasons, the same material is employed as that used in the manufacture of the covers and of the pivots about which it has to work.
As handles are used for transporting batteries, one of the problems that most regularly arises is that of having to detach the handles in order to prevent them striking against the covers of the batteries when these are subjected to vibration due to the motion of the vehicle. In the present invention this problem has been resolved through including on the cover two nipples which have to be inserted in the two recesses that are located on the ends of the lower part of the grip of the handle when the latter is lowered, in such a manner that handle and cover are firmly joined and are capable of withstanding the vibrations resulting from the motion of the vehicle without producing impacts.
Additionally, the handle of the present invention includes three holes situated on the upper part and on each of the two sides that surround the terminal of each polarity. Into these holes are inserted the nipples which are included on the lower part of some special pieces that cover the battery terminals, while the battery is in storage or is being transported to the vehicle in which it shall be mounted. These terminal cover-pieces with which the handle is provided protect the terminals from any possible short circuit, and contribute to better identification of the polarity of the battery, given that they are marked with the positive and negative signs.
To provide a better understanding of the present invention, a detailed description is given hereunder with reference to the drawings appended, in which has been represented by way of illustrative example, an embodiment of the handle in accordance with the principles of the invention.